SPLC Attacks Black Vanderbilt professor for backing film that calls Racism a Myth

[jmdrake]

Everyone's a little bit racist.

YouTube - Avenue Q Broadway Musical - Everyone's A Little Bit Racist recording & lyrics

LOL Funny. But then it's a good segway into an actual conversation about race. Take the comment about the "special monster school" that supposedly only monsters could go to. Some people have that mistaken idea about HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities). But HBCUs always admitted anyone and most started with white presidents and faculty. (In fact some like Fisk were started by former slave owners for their mixed race offspring). Many of these schools were in states where blacks were barred by law from attending the universities their tax dollars helped support. These schools were never almost exclusively black because whites couldn't attend. They were because the whites didn't choose to attend. And why should they? They had less expensive and/or more prestigious alternatives.

Or take the "Pollack" jokes. As a kid I never found these funny. I didn't know what a "Pollack" was (I lived in the south where there were no Polish enclaves) and I wondered why this group was being singled out for being stupid. (Yes I did have a lot of deep thoughts as a child). When I learned about Polish people and that one of the worlds top scientists had been Polish (Marie Curie) I came to the conclusion that it was the people writing the "Pollack jokes" that were really stupid! I also remember in high school kids going around with the "totally tasteless joke books". Along with a lot of sexual jokes (What's long, hard and full of seamen? A submarine.) it had a lot of ethnic jokes. The "funny" thing is that the "white" section wasn't funny. I'm not saying this because I'm black. I had black friends who would laugh at the black jokes, but then read the white jokes and say "I don't get it? That's not funny. This is lame." I remember when I went to see Eddie Murphy's stand up comedy movie "Raw". He did a section on white people not being able to dance. That was the first time I had ever heard a funny white joke in my life! Some white people who had been enjoying the movie up until this point got mad and left. I thought to myself "All through high school white kids expected me to laugh at black jokes and now they can't take a joke?" Of course this was back in 1987. It doesn't seem so long ago to me but I realize it's decades. Now the "script has been flipped" as some would say. Personally I don't do ethnic jokes period. I think there are so many other funny things to talk about. But if you're going to do them make sure you are fine poking fun at your own group. Chris Rock's routines about blacks are funny. Jeff Foxworthy's routines about "rednecks" are funny. Self deprecating humor is always the best IMO.

Regards,

John M. Drake

 

[dannno]

Had Prof. Swain said that Racial Discrimination is a myth, I would think she is retarded. No one can deny that it exists. However, she said that Racism is a myth--Racism is the theory that one race in inherently superior to another race and that thought is a retarded myth.

lol, not according to some at the SPLC...

 

[bobbyw24]

Filmmaker Craig Bodeker Will Speak at Historically Black College

The New Face of Race: A Community Discussion

Documentary Viewing: January 19, 2010 Seabrook Auditorium 2:00 p.m. & 6:00 p.m. Radio Interview: January 20, 2010 WFSS Bronco Cafe 1:30 p.m. Roundtable Discussion: January 21, 2010 Seabrook Auditorium 6:00 p.m. Book/DVD Signing: January 21, 2010 FSU Bookstore, Bronco Square 7:30 p.m.

President Obama's election has caused many to discuss whether race is still an issue in America. However, in his speech "A More Perfect Union" delivered in Philadelphia in March 2008, the President said, "The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American."

The documentary; A Conversation About Race, by filmmaker Craig Bodeker is one example of trying to "work through" the issue of race and racism in America. In it, Mr. Bodeker questions a diverse group of Colorado residents about their thoughts on such things as why white students score better than black students on standardized tests, why the NBA is nearly 90% black, whether they consider themselves racist, whether whites are better at anything than blacks and if its okay to say so, and how they feel about immigration. The result is a provocative discussion piece. In his new book, Rights, Race, and Recognition, University of Kansas Professor Derrick Darby draws on the legacy of race and racism in the United States to argue that all rights are products of social recognition. He asserts that rights have been grounded in divine agency, human nature, and morally justified claims, and have been used to assess the moral status of legal and customary social practices. The orthodoxy is that some of our rights are a species of unrecognized or natural rights. For example, black slaves in antebellum America were said to have such rights, and this was taken to provide a basis for establishing the immorality of slavery.

In a Chancellor's Distinguished Series first, we invite the campus and community to participate in three days of activities geared at promoting an educational and positive discussion about the new face of race in America. On Tuesday, January 19, 2010 we will host two showings of Mr. Bodeker's documentary. The following day, Dr. Darby will be interviewed on WFSS during the Bronco Cafe. Then on Thursday evening, panelists from diverse backgrounds will participate in a moderated discussion on the issue of race as it relates to politics, education, and civil rights. Following the roundtable discussion, Mr. Bodeker and Mr. Darby will sell and sign DVDs and books in the FSU Bookstore. All events are free and open to the public.

http://www.uncfsu.edu/govandcommunity/events/speakerartsseries.htm